Tarcoola Road Upgrade & New Private Haul Road

Fyfe’s civil, planning, survey and environmental teams have been working with Peak Iron Mines on the company’s road infrastructure project in South Australia to support their bulk iron ore haulage work, which encompasses the design of a new private haul road and upgrades to existing public roads and intersections.

Overview

To enable Peak Iron Mines to efficiently and safely transport their bulk iron ore product from their mine to their rail loading facility, they are required to expand and upgrade the existing public road infrastructure and develop a new private haul road to connect to this.

The public infrastructure upgrade includes:

  • The construction of an intersection of the private haul road and Tarcoola Road
  • An upgrade of Tarcoola Road from where it intersects with the haul road through to the Stuart Highway
  • The upgrade of the intersection of Tarcoola Road and Stuart Highway
  • The intersection of the mine access road and Stuart Highway.

Given the scope, the project was broken down into the above packages. Fyfe’s role was to develop the documentation for these packages from the design stage (submitted in several steps per South Australia Department of Infrastructure and Transport (DIT) requirements) through to ‘Issued for Construction’ status.

Approach

Fyfe first delivered concept designs for each of the packages based on information collected by our survey team, who had previously worked with Peak Iron Mines, and the preliminary design layouts provided by another supplier. We then delivered a basis of design report and coordinated Class D cost estimates for the project.

Fyfe’s team then submitted 30%, 70% and 100% detailed designs of the public intersection and road upgrade packages, which had to be approved by an Independent Design Certifier (IDC) at each stage. To obtain the necessary level of detail, Fyfe completed additional detailed surveys, worked with a specialist geotechnical material testing company, and ensured all relevant Road Safety Audit (RSA) requirements were met.

The proposed private haul road route runs through pastoral land, and, in addition, there are a number of heritage considerations. Our planning team was on hand to provide supporting detail to assist the process of obtaining approvals from relevant stakeholders and authorities.

Fyfe’s role and responsibilities
  • Project management
  • Civil engineering design
  • Survey services including aerial survey and laser scanning
  • Geotechnical assessments
  • Stakeholder engagement assistance.

This was a complex project with five separate yet interrelated design packages and several relevant authorities including DIT, Ausroads, and the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR). The combined work of our civil, environmental, planning, and survey teams meant we had the right personnel and skills needed to meet our client’s goals and expectations.

Fyfe is at home working on complex projects with myriad considerations and requirements. Our experience across sectors and our integrated services mean we get the job done well while delivering greater value.

Please contact us if you’d like to discuss your next project.